“Get the hell out of my closet!” the girl shouted in embarrassed fury, pointing at the bedroom door with one hand.

She shielded her small breasts with one arm, her thighs bent slightly as the valley between them disappeared amid all that pale skin. The blush on her cheeks was lovelier than the sunset sky.

Carlisle’s face was red too.

But only his left cheek was red, and the mark was unmistakably shaped like a hand.

Following the girl’s gesture, the once-mighty Knight of the Round Table slunk out of Liya’s bedroom, looking like a lecher who’d been caught before he could get away with anything.

Carlisle went down the stairs and returned to the sofa.

“You’re doomed. Liya must feel so humiliated now.” The Ghostling popped out of his neck again.

Any girl would feel humiliated if someone saw her naked for no reason, and that went double for the innocent Saintess, Liya.

Carlisle wanted to make it up to her, but he had no idea how. At a complete loss, he could only sit on the sofa and let out a long sigh.

He hoped Liya wouldn’t hate him after this.

Suddenly, as he looked at the head sticking out of his neck, an idea came to him.

“You didn’t see anything just now, did you?”

“See what? Her naked body?” The Ghostling snorted, sounding a little disdainful. “Did that slap knock your brain loose? If I don’t stick my head out, how am I supposed to see what’s happening or talk to you? You’ve known that for ages. We’ve lived together for over a decade. Did love suddenly make you forget everything?”

“Oh, right.”

“Besides, I’m not human. I couldn’t care less about your bodies.”

“Fine, fine. You’re the purest one here. Now get back inside before she sees you.” Hearing the girl coming downstairs, Carlisle pressed his thumb against the Ghostling’s head, trying to shove it back into his body.

The Ghostling struggled. “You need to comfort her! Even that gentle Saintess was angry enough to slap you. If you don’t handle this right, you two are done for!”

“I know, I know.”

Carlisle wasn’t an idiot. No matter how gentle a girl was, she couldn’t put up with being groped over and over.

After what happened today, Liya must have already pegged him as a lecher. If the earlier grab at her chest had merely stirred up a few ripples and set the little boat in her heart rocking, then today’s incident was a raging storm. It capsized that boat and smashed it to pieces.

How to make things right was the problem weighing on him most.

He had no idea how to comfort a girl.

Tap—tap—tap—

Each step Liya took down the stairs felt like a footfall against his heart. Anxiety closed in around him, and his thoughts grew more and more muddled.

He glanced back and saw that Liya looked beautiful in her nightgown, in a way he hadn’t expected.

The folds of her pale blue nightgown shimmered like ripples on a bay beneath the eight o’clock morning sun, one wave following another as they gently brushed against his heart. Her silver hair fell over her delicate shoulders. Liya was like a beautiful mermaid who’d swum from the shallows to the golden beach—not a drop of water on her, yet still radiating a damp, alluring charm.

The main problem was that the nightgown was so thin, Carlisle could just make out the lingerie Liya was wearing underneath.

He’d heard somewhere that girls usually didn’t wear underwear to bed. So if Liya wore this nightgown to sleep, then even through the fabric, he’d be able to see…

No. He couldn’t keep thinking about this. He wasn’t a pervert!

A wave of resentment rose in his heart. He was really starting to hate Witch Sherry more and more.

Would that damn potion keep his little Carlisle from ever getting back up?

As Liya’s sweet scent drifted over, she smoothed her skirt and sat across from him.

She sat like a proper lady, her legs together and angled slightly to one side. The blush on her cheeks still hadn’t faded.

Neither of them spoke. They sat in silence, and the atmosphere grew unbearably awkward.

Carlisle knew that if this went on, he’d only look worse and worse. He cleared his throat, adjusted his posture, and broke the silence.

“Uh, well, that nightgown looks nice.”

Liya looked at him, not understanding what he meant, but said nothing.

When she didn’t react, Carlisle went on. “The nightgown suits your figure. Um, it looks really pretty.”

There was nothing wrong with complimenting someone. Who didn’t like hearing nice things about themselves?

What unsettled him was that, when she heard that, Liya’s body gave the faintest tremble. For some reason, her hands, resting on her thighs, clenched tight.

Did she not like her figure? Had his compliment backfired?

But she had a great figure. He’d seen it with his own eyes.

Carlisle couldn’t quite understand what Liya was thinking. He was just gathering the courage to ask when the girl beat him to it. “Why were you hiding in my closet?”

Her glistening eyes were full of hurt and shame. Her slender body was held stiffly upright, making her look like a helpless girl who might fall over at the slightest push.

“…Uh, maybe because the space under the bed was dirty?” Carlisle scratched his still-aching left cheek as he recalled what had happened earlier.

Given the choice between the space under a bed that might have collected some dust and a closet filled with fragrant dresses and skirts, no one would choose the first. That was what Carlisle had thought at the time.

“…” Liya froze, clearly not expecting him to answer that way. But she didn’t press him further. Instead, she lowered her head in silence.

Her tightly clenched fists betrayed the storm inside her.

Carlisle knew he had to say something now. Otherwise, things between him and Liya would end here.

He’d seen Liya naked. Not only had that taken a little of the Saintess’s purity from her, but the humiliation of being violated by a man’s gaze might follow her for the rest of her life.

The Saintess, who always thought of others, shouldn’t have to suffer like this!

And there was only one way to solve this problem.

That was…

“Marry me, Liya!”

If she married him, then everything he’d done to her would become a bit of fun between husband and wife!

There’d be no more defilement!

“Huh?” After he spoke, Liya gave him a look he couldn’t understand.

But he didn’t pay it any mind. Wanting to free the girl from her inner torment, he stood up and eagerly took one of Liya’s hands. Looking straight into her eyes, he said:

“If you and I become husband and wife, you won’t have to suffer under the burden of being a Saintess anymore. You can think of me as your husband, and all of this will become a funny story we can look back on someday. Maybe when we have kids, they’ll even envy the way we met.”

He spoke so earnestly, as if it were all really going to happen.

Looking into his ink-black eyes, Liya lowered her lashes and turned her gaze aside.

She seemed a little shy.

Seeing this, Carlisle’s heart thumped wildly. He had a strong feeling that she was going to accept his confession!

When a girl blushed during a confession, it often meant she was about to say yes!

Liya tried to pull back her right hand, but the difference in their strength kept her from breaking free of Carlisle’s grip. Realizing that she wanted to get away, Carlisle took the chance to step closer, leaving her nowhere to retreat.

The girl turned her head away from the broad chest pressing toward her, and the blush on her cheeks spread again.

Carlisle knew that Liya actually liked him.

Ever since he’d first grabbed her chest, he’d broken through the Saintess’s defenses and made himself at home in her heart.

Their indirect kiss afterward had only proved it.

So, for the sake of a happy future, face your true feelings!

Liya!

Perhaps she heard his silent plea, because the girl stopped trying to run away.

Under Carlisle’s hopeful gaze, Liya took a deep breath. She met his eyes and raised her left hand.

Smack—

A matching handprint appeared on Carlisle’s right cheek.

“Let go! You’re hurting me, you disgusting pervert!”